Najat Vallaud-Belkacem visits London

The French Minister of National Education, Higher Education and Research, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, met her UK counterpart Nicky Morgan, visited London’s Pimlico Academy and gave a keynote speech at the education technology show Bett, during her first full official visit to London.

At the Department for Education, the Minister and her UK counterpart signed an agreement on Franco-British cooperation on education. The Minister also met Lord Nash, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Schools, and at his invitation she joined him for a tour around Pimlico Academy, rated "outstanding" by the education inspectorate Ofsted.

Ahead of the visit, she gave an interview to The Guardian’s Paris correspondent Angelique Chrisafis, in which she explained the French government’s efforts to reappropriate the concept of secularism in schools in the wake of the 2015 terrorist attacks.